Bone Review

Here come a very nice and detailled review of the bone.
I think the review is quite objective and i share most of the writer point of view :
PDF review

Step 4 - Install the hard drive

I've received the hdd (thanks Amazon for the fast shipping) a WD scorpio blue 500Go. I 've hesitate for a bigger one but i've learn after that Bone do not handle more. (perhaps later). Opening the bone and installing the drive is a children game It fit like a charm, do not hesitate to screw the heavily dur to the hole form it can move if you give the bone a choc or a fall.(tested for you :-) )  .

When plugging the bone to the PC or Mac the dual usb connector is enougth tho power the bone. This is why i choose a 5400tr/min drive to avoid too power consuming drive and it was a good choice.

Then I create 2 partitions 1 NTFS 420M for Medias and a small Ext3 80Gb for android later install.

I format the drive using "Partition Wizard Home Edition" a free tool that HDX advice. Works well and support Ext 3

Now i'am transferring movie to the HDD transfer rate are good, i'am also updating my movie database with Ember.

Next step using the bone.... and testing audio, picture and android ..

Step 3 - Network only test

As promised, i've done severals test tonight at home using hdmi and 37" lcd full hd TV.

I've faced a lot of difficulties to setup the share with my XP. The Bone saw the share will exploring (working but need to kying user/password each time and first acces is a much longer), but using the setup to define a share Bone never success in connecting. Must be a XP issue since using a samba share with mac os i do not face same issue!

Anyway Bone read any of the file i give to him except those from my canon camera (MJpg i think). Sounds weird.

I manage to play a 12go mkv ( avatar see picture) over the network but a simple mjpg failed :-(

Not a big problem but i will report it to the support to see how they handle user request :-)   

I will also ask for more language setup since movies with multiple audio stream start in english.

You can these setup but you have choice between english, chinese, romania,... :-)

I also manage to test Cover art presentation.

It's not as pretty as Plex but  look quite good.

Page rendering is slower but since it's over network  i hope that from hard drive it will be faster.

This mode is not effcient when browsing simple folder since there is no label until you select it, kind of blind navigation .. will report this issue too.

I use Ember Media Manager to setup the folder and the picture in each folder. It's really a good app to manage meta-info on movies 

I also try the resume movie function just works like it would.

So far i'am really happy with bone, it does what i buy it for, with success and not too much bugs.(hang one time while testing network share setup)

Next test will be the Music player with cover art too !

Stay tunned !

Step 2 - opening the box

Bone arrived today with DHL and 17 euros custom's tax !

I don't know how custom manage to compute 17 euros taxes since HDX declare 55 $ value ! 

Must be some hidden cost with the VAT.

The good surprise is the mini usb adaptator, that was not delivered with previous model. No a big deal in term of cost but not so easy to find. This is usefull to connect keyboard for android.

Now i need a hard drive to put in the Bone.

I've just order the WD scorpio blue at Amazon 60 Euros.

Until i receive it i will only be able to test the network feature of the bone.

I've quickly test during lunch time at work using a poor video projector and coaxial output (576p).

System is clear and responsive, network share is quite easy to setup with the virtual keyboard.

At this time Bone have read all kind of media I've tested.

So far so good will do heavier testing at home.

HDX bone - step 1

I was looking for a media center since a while, but with no luck. The 2 mains criterias was the playable codec and a cool gui with movie cover, ...

My short list was:

• Mac mini with plex : the top but expensive and without hdmi (until now)
• WD TV Live: great offer but do not include hard drive inside
• Xtreamer: Hdd case but poor UI design

Well i was digging the web for the best deal, till i found the HDX Bone.

This brand new media player is small form factor case that can hold a 2'5 HDD, can read almost all video format but the key feature is the dual boot with Android, for the moment is quite useless (bring internet access) but open nice perspective.

So i decided to go for this chinese model since it is not too expensive 119$ + 35$ shipping (128 euros)
EDIT: plus 17 euros customs taxes !

Since it was hard to find information on this model, i decided to share my experience with you :-)

For now i've place my order the june 22 and now i wait ....